"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT"

If you know anything about me, you know that sometimes what I mean to say doesn't come out right and when that happens, it usually produces a laugh for those of you who are around to hear it.

For example, one Sunday at the close of our worship service at Rolling Fork Baptist Church, I felt prompted to share about how grateful that I am to God that He would allow me to serve as a pastor of His church. Not only that, but I wanted to say how blessed I was to have people around me to help me grow as a pastor and a leader. So here is what I meant to say, "I know that I have made many mistakes while serving RFBC all of these years and I wish that I had know then what I know now so that I could have done a better job. But I understand you have to start at one level and start growing from there. I am thankful that God is teaching me and developing me to be a better leader in the future." But that's not how it came out.

What I actually said (and yes, Rhonda quickly corrected me) was ""I know that I have made many mistakes while serving RFBC all of these years and I wish that I had know then what I know now so that I could have done a better job. WOULDN'T IT BE GREAT TO TAKE WHAT YOU KNOW NOW AND START SOMEWHERE FRESH?"

Several folks began to question me about that statement and asked if I was leaving RFBC. I told them no and tried to explain what my statement was supposed sound like. I began serving as pastor at RFBC in January of 1999 and I look back and see many areas that I should have handled things differently... but you learn as you go, right?

This year, I really feel the need to look at my role as a pastor and the church as a whole and ask, 'What are we doing that is really pleasing God and what are we doing that is causing us to fall short of what God wants for us to be?'.

As a pastor, I am having to rethink a lot of things because after pastoring for the last 17 years, I see many ideas and practices in the past that have not been effective in leading people to maturity in Christ. At the time, I thought I was doing what was right, but now I look back and see that things didn't always go like I thought they would. I see some areas where I should have taken action but I didn't for whatever reason. I see some areas where I should have stayed away from something but got involved because I wanted to help someone.

SO PLEASE PRAY FOR ME AND ALL OTHER PASTORS because the day is getting closer for each one of us to leave this world and come face to face with Jesus Himself. I want to be ready. I want to hear 'Well done, My good and faithful servant.', don't you? Let us read this passage below and use it as a prayer as we live out our days in 2013...

Philippians 3:12-15 (ESV) Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.